Prince – U got the look
#quotefromthe80s
U've got the look (U've got the look)
U sho'nuff do be cookin' in my book (Slammin'!)
Ur face is jammin', ur body's heck-a-slammin'
If love is good, let's get 2 rammin'
#Prince #UGotTheLook #SheenaEaston
On July 14, 1987, one of the great icons of the 80s released a song that is a tribute to glamorous looks, external appearance, but also to sensuality and the ability to impress. Perhaps we could think that such a song could be a slow song, a little intriguing, but it was a very funky song, almost bordering on electric rock. We are talking about Prince’s U Got the Look, the third single from the album Sign o’ the Times after Sign o’ the Times itself and If I was your Girlfriend, which had been released a few months earlier.
We are in a new phase of Prince’s life and career, and the times of Purple Rain seem light years away, even if only three years have passed. Prince has kept the habit of surrounding himself with beautiful women, but there has been an obvious generational leap: Vanity and Apollonia, Wendy and Lisa have given way to other women like the Scottish singer Sheena Easton and the model and dancer Cat Glover. The only sign of continuity seems to be the continuous presence of the talented Sheila E, the very sensual drummer whose legs will also appear in the video of Alphabet St. the following year.
U Got the Look is about a sort of seduction competition between men and women, and has a very particular style. First, there is an introduction, a kind of presentation that says it all: “Boy versus girl in the World Series of love”, “the dream we all dream of”. This kind of presentation is not new in Prince’s style: we also found it, for example, at the beginning of Let’s Go Crazy which dates back to the times of Purple Rain.
The title in is pure Prince’s style, with words zipped in single letters with the same sounds. Prince had been using this style since the Purple Rain era, as shown by another song, I Would Die 4 U.
U Got the Look is credited only to Prince, but in fact it is a lively duet (sometimes together and sometimes in contrast) with the talented Sheena Easton, who had in fact radically changed her image, and now sported a look halfway between new romantic and a rock rebel.
Prince hadn’t written the song for her, but while he was recording it, Sheena was there. Prince wasn’t usually very open on these occasions, being a total perfectionist, but he was passionate about Sheena Easton’s voice, and so this time he told her to come in, and sing with him.
The video is quite close to the tradition of Prince videos, where you often see concerts, packed clubs, and of course sensational clothes and hairstyles. The video starts with Prince falling asleep in his dressing room, and in fact the rest of the video shows his dream. And I must say that there are similarities between some scenes with Sheena Easton (who was sometimes called Sheena E, in assonance with Sheila E), and some scenes of Purple Rain with guitarist Wendy Melvoin. And talking about looks, we have to notice Prince’s extremely sober look in this video, like pills, thrills and daffodils, in his words.
U Got the Look was very successful in the United States, while in Europe it rarely reached the top ten, although it certainly remains a great song that certifies all the energy and creativity of a great protagonist of the 80s, and of all female musicians who have always accompanied him.
Prince and Sheena Easton on Wikipedia
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